“#BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.
It goes beyond the narrow nationalism that can be prevalent within Black communities, which merely call on Black people to love Black, live Black and buy Black, keeping straight cis Black men in the front of the movement while our sisters, queer and trans and disabled folk take up roles in the background or not at all.
Black Lives Matter affirms the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, black-undocumented folks, folks with records, women and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. It centers those that have been marginalized within Black liberation movements. It is a tactic to (re)build the Black liberation movement.” (9)
Clearly, Black Lives Matter’s appraisal of the liberation fight of the past, saw the Black LBGTQ sector excluded, which they strive to address. Nevertheless, they have sparked a degree of social activism among young people perhaps not seen for several decades.
It appears that they have amassed some rich allies in their mission with the announcement just under a year ago of $100m pledges via the Black-Led Movement Fund from liberal grant-making bodies such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Center for American Progress, the Ford Foundation and Borealis Philanthropy.. (10)
This development raises the issue of whether a Movement funded this way can truly deliver liberation. There appear to be parallels between Black-Led Movement Fund and the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership that Omowale Malcolm X clinically exposed in his legendary Message To The Grassroots speech, regarding the appropriation of the March on Washington in 1963. (11)
Some have even wondered whether these types activities revive the concerns of “black feminist infiltration” of the liberation movement of the early seventies, orchestrated by CIA operative Gloria Steinem and channelled through the likes Michelle Wallace, ostensibly with the objective splitting (and weakening) the liberation movement along gender lines. (12)
Activists like Zaza Ali are unequivocal about the stated aims of Black Lives Matter (https://youtu.be/KTwMqm2Mzpk):
“That sounds like a declaration of war on Black men to me.”
Those challenging of the extension of the LBGTQ agenda are often described as bigoted or even homophobic. Yet some stand firm in the conviction of principles woven into Afrikan culture:
“On Earth, the coming together of the male and female, during sexual encounters, is interpreted as the necessary reenactment of the original divine androgyny to which the world owes its existence in the first place and without which life would not be present. It is easy to understand why, within the African worldview, homosexuality is incomprehensible and highly reprehensible because it violates the ultimate order of things and inescapably means infertility (i.e., the end of life).” (13)
This could be contrasted with classical Greek traditions where it’s fundamental religious tenets were characterised by pederasty. (14)
Interestingly, one of the founders of Black Lives Matters, Patrisse Cullors, also embraces an Afrikan spiritual tradition of Ifá, incorporating its rituals into political protest events:
“For me, seeking spirituality had a lot to do with trying to seek understanding about my conditions—how these conditions shape me in my everyday life and how I understand them as part of a larger fight, a fight for my life.” (15)
Cullors might be attempting to bring something to her politics given that “racism is a serious problem within the LGBT community” (16). Moreover, with the “ Alt-Right[ is] using sex and camp to attract gay men to fascism,” there are still deep internal issues that need to be addressed. (17)
Maybe the dichotomy is best described by an anecdote from a young activist who said he was asked: “How can you be serious about the plight of Afrikan people but not as serious fighting for the rights of LBGT…?” He replied: “You would never look at a Black homosexual man and tell him he’s not serious about fighting for Black homosexuality because he doesn’t support the reparations campaign.”
(1) BBC News (08/07/17) Pride parade in London: Thousands join LGBT march. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-40531136
(2) BBC News (08/07/17) Marching with Pride in London. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-40542890
(3) UK Black Pride (28/06/15) UK Black Pride Celebrating 10 Years of UBUNTU ~ Including You!. http://ukblackpride.org.uk/events/uk-black-pride/ http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v110/n1/full/bjc2013650a.html
(4) Will Dahlgreen and Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare (16/08/2015) 1 in 2 young people say they are not 100% heterosexual. https://yougov.co.uk/news/2015/08/16/half-young-not-heterosexual/
(5) Department for Education et al (29/10/2014) Organisations urged to come forward with ideas to stamp out homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/2-million-fund-to-tackle-homophobic-bullying-in-schools
(6) https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/110042.
(7) Karen Pace (16/09/14) Confused about LBGTQ? http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/confused_about_lbgtq.
(8) Michelle Garcia (27/02/15) 7 Queer Women Making Sure We All Know That #BlackLivesMatter. https://www.pride.com/2015/02/27/7-queer-women-making-sure-we-all-know-blacklivesmatter-0?pg=2#article-content
(9) Black Lives Matter (09/2016) About the Black Lives Matter Network. http://blacklivesmatter.com/about
(10) Valerie Richardson (16/08/16) Black Lives Matter cashes in with $100 million from liberal foundations. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/16/black-lives-matter-cashes-100-million-liberal-foun
(11) Omowale Malcolm X (10/11/63) Message To The Grassroots. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/message-to-grassroots/
(12) Stuart Jeanne Bramhall (13/10/15) Did the CIA Use Gloria Steinem to Subvert the Feminist Movement?. https://stuartjeannebramhall.com/2015/10/13/did-the-cia-use-gloria-steinem-to-subvert-the-feminist-movement
(13) Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama (2009) Encyclopedia Of African Religion. Sage Publications, Inc. p. 265
(14) Robert B Koehl. (1986) The Chieftain Cup and a Minoan Rite of Passage, Journal of Hellenic Studies 106. p 99–110. H. Jeanmaire. and R.F Willetts (2007. The Life Cycle in Archaic Greece in Deborah Kamen, The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece, Cambridge University Press. pp. 104–105
(15) Hebah H. Farrag (24/06/15). The Role of Spirit in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement: A Conversation with Activist and Artist Patrisse Cullors. http://religiondispatches.org/the-role-of-spirit-in-the-blacklivesmatter-movement-a-conversation-with-activist-and-artist-patrisse-cullors/
(16) Owen Jones (24/11/16) No Asians, no black people. Why do gay people tolerate blatant racism?. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/24/no-asians-no-blacks-gay-people-racism
(17) Donna Minkowitz (05/06/17) How the Alt-Right Is Using Sex and Camp to Attract Gay Men to Fascism. http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2017/06/05/how_alt_right_leaders_jack_donovan_and_james_o_meara_attract_gay_men_to.html
we ask the question:
Can we reconcile LBGTQ and Afrikan Liberation Politics?
Is homosexuality really increasing among young people?
Is this related to LBGTQ being firmly a part of the school agenda?
Is Black Lives Matter’s characterisation and definition of (narrow) nationalism accurate?
Can we grant-fund our way to liberation?
Is LBGTQ compatible with Afrikan Spirituality?
Our very special guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK and national co-Chair of the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Guide To Excellence.